Habib Aydarus bin Sumayt martyred while praying

Prominent cleric shot dead while praying in Yemen’s Hadhramaut

Unknown gunmen assassinated cleric Al Habib Aidroos Ben Abdullah bin Sumait, a prominent scholar and imam of Al-Mehdhar Mosque in his home in the city of Tarim in Hadhramaut, southern Yemen.

The gunmen pretended to be joining the cleric to read Quran, and after he allowed them in, they shot him as he performed his prayer, according to sources close to the deceased.

Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr condemned the assassination, which he described as an attack on moderate thinking that rejects deviant ideas and rejects them socially.

He added that Bin Sumait was one of the moderate voices known for his honesty and morals.

The attack is the first of its kind in the city of Trim, which is renowned for its role in advocating tolerance, rejecting violence and advocacy for moderation.

It is especially alarming as the number of assassinations in southern Yemen has risen.

Aden has witnessed assassinations of imams and religious teachers.

The same province witnessed an intensive campaign to hunt down militants belonging to al-Qaeda, leading to the detection of the headquarters used by a terrorist group to launch assassinations in Hadhramaut and Aden during the month of September last year.

We have lost another of the men of Allah. On Friday 14th Jumada al-Akhirah 1439 / 2nd March 2018, Habib Aydarus bin Abdullah bin Sumayt was martyred in shocking circumstances in Tarim, Hadramawt. On that morning a man knocked on his door claiming that he was sick and asking Habib Aydarus to read verses of the Qur’an over him. After welcoming him in, Habib Aydarus said that he would pray Salat al-Duha and then come to him. The man then shot him and he died on his prayer mat in front of his wife.

His death is reminiscent of the death of Sayyiduna Umar ibn al-Khattab, who asked to die as a martyr in Madinah, and also of the death of Sayyiduna Uthman, who died in his own home. Who would have thought that Habib Aydarus would die as a martyr in his own home in Tarim? The Prophet ﷺ also told us that the one who dies on Friday will be given the reward of a martyr and will be protected from the punishment of the grave.

Habib Aydarus was a spiritual guide and healer and was much loved by the people of Tarim. There was hardly a person in Tarim nor a visitor to the city who did not go to his house next to Masjid al-Mihdar in order for him to read over them or see to their needs. He had immense humility and would never turn anyone away. He was born in 1352 (1933) and for many years was the imam of Masjid al-Mihdar, one of the main and most historic mosques in Tarim. That morning he had prayed fajr in the mosque with the congregation, as was his custom. May Allah raise his rank and give ease to his family and loved ones.